Art and craft day play dough

Every week my friends and I get together for an ‘art and craft’ play date with the kids.  This week it’s my turn to supply the activity and what could be more fun than play dough?  It was the best fun I’ve had all day simply to make the dough – when I told my husband how much fun I was having, he suggested we play with it instead of the kids because ‘We’re the grown ups, we can do whatever we want’.  Love that logic.

This recipe makes a smallish amount per batch – I have modified the recipe over at Modern Parents Messy Style, but most recipes for play dough are pretty much the same.  You could easily double the quantities if you wanted a lot of play dough, but I find this is perfect for one child.  Make a few colours and really get creative with your food dye (we’re having fun, remember?) – a few batches of this would be perfect for a small group of 2-4 kids.

What you’ll need:
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 tbsp cream of tartar
1 tbsp salt
1 cup plain white flour
1 cup warm water
Food colouring of your choice

Combine all ingredients in a medium-size pot over a medium heat and stir all of the lumps out. You’ll know it’s finished when the dough becomes sticky and you can’t stir anymore.

Transfer the dough to a cutting board that has been sprinkled with flour and allow to cool.  If you like, you can add more drops of food colouring at this point to intensify the colour.  You could also add glitter for a bit of fun.

When the dough has cooled, knead with some of the flour from the board until you are happy with the consistency.  Pop into an air-tight container and keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

Enjoy!